US operator DC Blox is planning to build a second cable landing station (CLS) in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
As reported by WBTW and since confirmed by the company, Horry County Council passed a third and final reading at its recent meeting to allow the company to purchase land next door to its current facility.
According to the council agenda, DC Blox aims to acquire 21 acres within the Myrtle Beach International Technology and Aerospace Park, adjacent to its existing CLS, for $2.77 million.
“When that data arrives in the United States, it needs someplace to go, right? You [have] got to carry that data terrestrially," said Bill Thomson, the vice president of marketing for DC Blox during the meeting. “It became very evident that there was enough growth in the region, there was enough more capacity expected from operators like the ones we’ve seen to say, it makes sense to expand.”
DC Blox will launch its first CLS at Myrtle Beach in October of last year. It is the first CLS in the state. Three of the five available cable slots at the facility have already been reserved – two for Google and one for Meta.
The original agreement between Horry Council and DC Blox gave the colocation firm an option to purchase additional parcels, which it is now exercising. As the land is part of Myrtle Beach International Airport (MYR), the agreement is contingent upon final approval by the FAA.
“Horry County Department of Airports has prepared the proposed agreement and feels that the terms proffered are consistent with the value and use of the property, will not conflict with other operations at MYR, and will benefit the County through economic development interests and revenue there from,” county documents said.
The second CLS will reportedly host four more cables, giving the campus the ability to host nine cables in total. Thomson said the company hopes to begin construction in one year and begin operating in two to three years.
Google has two subsea cables that will land at the original CLS; the Firmina cable connecting the US to Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, and the Nuvem cable connecting to Portugal and Bermuda. Meta, via its Edge Holdings subsidiary, plans to land its Anjana cable connecting to Spain at the new CLS.
The Confluence-1 cable, set to run from New Jersey to Florida, is also set to land in Myrtle Beach, but no official announcement about it landing at the CLS has been made yet.
DC Blox operates facilities at locations across Birmingham and Huntsville, Alabama; and Chattanooga, Tennessee, It is planning another facility in High Point, North Carolina, and outside Atlanta, Georgia. The company recently announced plans for a new 45MW data center campus in South Carolina's Berkeley County.
The company recently filed to develop a CLS in Palm Coast, Florida, between Orlando and Jacksonville.
